Our first trip together in 2022! In early March, my boss asked me to come to Madrid for a meeting so it seemed like a good excuse for a weekend in Spain. We headed off a few days early to play tourist…

The morning flight from Madrid featured gorgeous scenery.

We were staying at the Eurostars Madrid Tower, which isn’t close to the city but is close to my office. We were very lucky and the weather was absolutely beautiful. From our hotel room, we could see mountains in the far distance.

It was lunchtime, so we headed to the nearby Paprika Cafe. It’s a very small place, but the food is outstanding. I had gnocchi with oxtail and truffle, and we shared a piece of cheesecake for dessert. The guy at the cafe told us that the cheesecake had cream, blue, and parmesan cheese, and it wasn’t super sweet. Delicious though.

The Snook had a homemade pastrami sandwich, and he really enjoyed it.

After a few hours napping and relaxing back at the hotel, we caught the metro into the city. I had booked us into a tour with Walk and Eat Spain, and to our delight, we found we were the only ones on it! So we ended up with our own personal guide, Margit, an American expat who made us feel right at home.

The tour took us to several venues in Malasańa, a pretty happening part of the city. Our first stop was Mozzare Atelier de Quesos y Lacteos, a cheese shop and wine bar. We had several different local cheeses, including a “mystery” cheese that definitely wasn’t Parmigiano (because of course, that name is protected) but bore a, uh, strong resemblance! 😂🧀

It was a beautiful night to wander around Madrid.

Look at this gorgeous fellow.

As we walked through Malasańa, Margit told us about local history and about daily life in Madrid.

Our second stop was local vermutería called Pepe y Josefa. We had vermouth (on tap!) and some lovely garlicky green olives.

We also has tostas – toast with tomato puree and thinly sliced jamón ibérico on top.

Our next stop was Bodegas El Maño, which was heaving. Thankfully because of the tour we had a reserved table in the corner.

We had beers and patatas bravas, which I LOVE. We dunked the hot, crispy potatoes in chili sauce and aioli.

The final stop was Bodegas Rivas, where we had seared red tuna with tomato, ginger, and soy sauce. Oh, and more wine. 🍷

What a fun night! We said goodbye to Margit and headed back to the hotel.

It was another beautiful day the next morning. We had breakfast at the hotel and thankfully weren’t too hungover from the night before.

We caught a cab to the city for our next adventure, a “combo tour” of the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Prado Museum. We headed for the Plaza de Oriente bright and early to find the Monument to Philip IV and meet up with our tour group.

Our first stop was the Royal Palace of Madrid…

Once we went through security, we found ourselves in the Plaza de la Armería. There’s a grand statue of King Charles III of Spain.

We entered the Palace via the Grand Staircase…

At the top you’re greeted by the Coat of Arms of Spain. This Palace isn’t just a tourist destination; it’s the official residence of the Spanish royal family! (These days it’s really only used for state ceremonies though.)

And then you look up, …and WOW. Those ceiling frescoes are by Corrado Giaquinto, and they’re breathtaking.

Selfie time!

There’s really only one room of the tour you’re allowed to take photos in, which is this one. Our tour guide mentioned that it’s been used for a lot of state occasions. The carpet is rolled up so it doesn’t get worn down with all the tourists traipsing through, and it also gives a view of that beautiful marble floor. (Our guide spoke to us via little wireless earpieces, which is what the Snook’s wearing there.)

Real tapestries on the walls! Pretty sure she said they came from famous tapestry weavers in Germany.

That’s the point where we went into the parts of the palace you’re not allowed to photograph. And let me tell you – we’ve visited several castles and palaces over the years, and most of them aren’t nearly as luxurious or, well, palatial as I expected. Either the original furnishings are long gone, or the owners ran out of money to complete more than few rooms of their folly. (*cough* LUDWIG) But this one? This one was stunning. Many of the rooms were decorated in a lavish Rococo style, which the Snook found creepy but I absolutely loved. The banqueting hall was mind-blowing. It took us an hour to get through all the different rooms.

At this point, we had a short break before we began the next stage of the tour. The Snook and I used it by soaking up the sun in the Plaza.

From the Plaza, you’ve got a lovely look down into the Campo del Moro Gardens.

One last shot of the facade of the Palace against a clear blue sky.

At this point, the combo tour takes you on about an hour’s walk across the city. (If you go directly it’s only about 25 minutes, but our guide wanted to show us some highlights.) We started up the Calle Mayor, one of the most important streets in Madrid.

Along the way, we learned about how in 1906 an anarchist tried to assassinate King Alfonso XIII and his new bride Princess Victoria Eugenie as they passed in their wedding carriage. The King and Queen survived, but others did not. Now there’s a memorial in front of the Monastery of San Jerónimo.

This is the Casa de la Villa (old city hall) in the Plaza de la Villa in the Palacio neighbourhood.

Off the Plaza, our tour guide made a special point of taking us to Calle del Codo. This is a very narrow street with a ninety-degree bend in it, which is why the name translates to “Elbow Street.” (You can see the sign with the bent arm on it.)

At last we made it to the Plaza Mayor, a famous major public square in the city. I loved the frescoes on the outside of the Casa de la Panaderia.

We had been told that the Plaza was usually crowded with tourists (and thus a target for pickpockets), but thankfully it wasn’t too bad that day.

We left the Plaza via the Arco de Cuchilleros and walked down the Cava de San Miguel. Our tour guide was very excited to show us Sobrino de Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world in continuous operation!

We wound back around to the Plaza and then headed out the other end at Calle de la Sal (“Salt Street”).

This gorgeous place – the Petit Palace Posada del Peine – is a 400-year-old hotel!

Our next landmark was the Puerta del Sol (“Gate of the Sun”), another famous public square in Madrid.

One of the landmarks in the square is a statue of a bear and a strawberry tree. It represents the coat of arms of Madrid, and our tour guide told us it was good luck to touch the bear. (You can see that his heel and his tail are showing wear from lots of touching by thousands of people!)

This is the Palacio de las Cortes (Palace of the Parliament) where the lower house of the Spanish legislature meets. They had banners up for International Women’s Day when we were there.

Finally we reached our destination – the Prado Museum, housing one of the finest collections of European art in the world.

Our guide led us inside and on a whirlwind tour of the museum highlights. Honestly, you could’ve spent an entire day in there but we’d already been on our feet for 4+ hours so we were flagging. No photos were allowed, but I was mesmerised by Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights. We both loved Rubens’s The Three Graces and Velázquez’s Las Meninas. I also admired Caravaggio’s David and Goliath (which we’d see later version of, a week later in Vienna). The final room of the tour was all Goya, including his bleak The Dog and Saturn Devouring his Son. (I bought the latter as a fridge magnet. 😳)

The next day I worked from the AWS office while the Snook went off on his own adventure. At one point, I was surprised to spot the tour bus of the Paris Saint-Germain football club outside our hotel! (Sadly, I did not spot Lionel Messi at the hotel breakfast buffet that morning…)

While I was working, Rodd headed into the city again. He was delighted to get to see the towers of the Gate of Europe, which apparently feature prominently in a Spanish-Italian film from the 90’s called The Day of the Beast. (He’s adamant I’m going to have to watch it someday.)

His destination was the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (National Archaeology Museum), and he spent a couple hours exploring its treasures. He said, “They basically have the whole history of human habitation on the Iberian peninsula, from the initial migration out of Africa through to the Moorish period.”

He saw prehistoric art carved on bones, loads of gold treasure from the Celtic period, and quite a lot of Roman marbles. He especially liked this carved and gilded wooden dome ceiling.

After the Museum, he went to check out the nearby Buen Retiro Park. He got a shot of the Monument to Alfonso XII across the pond.

One final shot across the Retiro. Look at those fabulous trees! Thanks for a lovely weekend, Madrid…

Solo trip! In February I had a work event in Seattle, so I made my first long-haul trip without the Snook in several years.

My hotel room had a nice view of the city. It wasn’t water, but it was still pretty.

The event was an internal work conference so there’s really nothing to share there, but one highlight was that my team arranged for a professional photographer to take headshots for us. He’d asked us to bring a prop that showed our “personality.” As you can see, I figured I might as well bring along the knitting!

I had a couple hours free one afternoon so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to finally visit the Amazon Spheres. Somehow I had managed to work for the company for nearly 4 years without ever visiting Seattle! Time to rectify that.

I walked over from the hotel. The Spheres opened four years ago and are next to one of the big Amazon buildings. They’re made up of three adjoining spherical glass domes, and they’re intended as an employee lounge and workspace. (They do have occasional public tours too.)

The first thing I noticed inside was the heat and humidity. The domes are kept at a constant temperature of 72 °F (22 °C) and 60 percent humidity during the daytime. The other thing I couldn’t appreciate from the outside was how big they are. They’re several stories high inside!

There are various paths through the plants on each level, and I wandered through taking photos. Almost felt like I was back in Australia!

The juxtaposition of the riot of colourful leaves and flowers next to the organic shapes made of steel and glass was really beautiful.

The biggest tree in the Spheres is this 55-foot (17 m) Ficus rubiginosa tree that had to be lifted in with a crane. You can ascend through its branches on a walkway.

I needed to have a work call with a colleague back in Australia, so I found one of the work areas and settled into a chair. It makes for a pretty stunning backdrop!

Eventually I made it to the top floor where I was able to get a better view of the living green walls. The plants have been carefully chosen as different plants thrive at different heights and temperatures. The plants at the top are very different from the ones at the bottom!

Taking a selfie with the Spheres sign is practically a law for Amazonians visiting Seattle. 😂

While I didn’t get to really do anything else touristy, I did manage to catch up with my old blog friends Jeff and Tricia. I hadn’t seen them in person in nine years!

And that was it for Seattle! I headed for my flights back to Munich, passing through O’Hare and my least favourite tunnel in the history of airport construction. 😐

We are four months into 2022 and I still haven’t documented our last trip of 2021! At the end of November we headed to the US for AWS re:Invent as well as a long-awaited Christmas visit with my family.

We had a fairly early flight out of Munich, and the first snowfall of the year was just starting as we waited for the train to the airport.

We flew from Munich to Chicago, our first big transcontinental flight in a very long time! That flight wasn’t too full, but the one from Chicago to Vegas certainly was.

We got to Vegas and checked into our hotel. We were both pretty tired, but we knew we had to stay up as long as we could. Some of the European AWS leaders I knew were in town, so we met up with a few of them for dinner at In-N-Out.

That’s us with the lovely Rinon and Gloria from Zürich at The Book in the Linq Hotel. We were really flagging at this point, so that’s when we called it a night!

The next day I wasn’t on duty until later in the day, so I took the Snook to lunch with a colleague of mine at the Momofuku in the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

The pork belly buns are, as always, divine…

The Snook went with the Shoyu Pork Ramen…

…while I had the Ginger Scallion Noodle with Chicken.

We were staying in the Bellagio, which had kind of a “winter wonderland” set up in the lobby. I should note that I was really happily surprised by the level of mask wearing in Vegas. All of the casinos had signs up announcing that masks were required, and pretty much everybody was complying. I even saw people wearing them on the Strip in the spots that were very crowded.

I headed over to the Expo hall to meet up with my colleagues at the AWS DevLounge. Here I am with Isa, who heads up AWS DevRel for EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa).

We had a big wall set up for user group leaders to write on, so I couldn’t resist giving a shoutout to my buddies back in Australia!

That night I headed to Mandalay Bay for a special AWS Heroes event. Heroes are external AWS experts who are recognised for leading communities, creating content, and basically being amazing ambassadors for the platform. One of the perks they get each year is an all-expenses paid trip to re:Invent, as well as a special kickoff mixer. This is me with Martin, Markus, and Philipp from the German AWS community.

The view was pretty amazing!

I spent the whole next day in a meeting room with the DevRel leadership team, working on our goals and strategy for the year. (I should mention that Rodd was actually working too, just remotely from our hotel.) We had a special dinner reservation that night though…

Roy Choi’s Best Friend in the Park MGM! We caught the monorail over and were delighted to discover that the Park MGM is smoke-free. WOW. I’m actually tempted to stay there the next time I visit. It was literally a breath of fresh air.

The front of Best Friend looks like a Korean convenience store, but once you get in it opens up into a more traditional dining room. Our table had a view through to the kitchen. (I still look jet lagged.)

It’s a Korean restaurant, so of course we had to get banchan! I also couldn’t resist ordering a Frosé slushie from the “Dranks” menu.

We had Kogi Short Rib Tacos, Street Corn, Garlic Chicken, and glistening dinner rolls. In all honesty, it was too much food!

These are the faces of two people who are definitely not ordering dessert. 😂

One of my main jobs at re:Invent was hosting some of the AWS OnAir sessions. Here’s one that I did the next day talking with our customer Aerospike.

I should also mention that I helped with a project to build a beer recommendation mobile application, which was also presented by some of my colleagues at re:Invent too.

After a long day in the Expo, I headed over to the Wynn casino for a meeting of AWS User Group leaders.

That’s me with my colleague Sebastien taking selfies. It was really cool to hear from some of these folks about best practices for running meetups and creating inclusive communities.

That night, the DevRel team had a dinner at the Eiffel Tower in the Paris Hotel. We had a really great view of the Bellagio Fountain show.

And I had a pretty amazing Creme Brûlée to end the night…

The next day, I broke out my famous AWS dress. Here I am along with Dale Chihuly’s famous “Fiori Di Como” ceiling in the Bellagio.

My last day at re:Invent started in the Expo Hall again as we were getting ready for another day of Community talks.

I also hosted several more OnAir sessions, including this cool one where had some of the new AWS Outposts servers physically there to look at.

And that was it for my first ever re:Invent experience! It was finally time to go on vacation…

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Not long after we got to Munich, I saw an ad on Facebook for the West End theatrical production of Neil Gaiman’s book The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I bought the book back in 2014 and we both read it and loved it. I knew that the play had received rave reviews when it opened at the National Theatre a few years back, and it seemed like a great opportunity for a trip back to London to reunite with some of our friends. I decided to play it very safe and buy tickets for a full year in the future, hoping that by then we’d be able to safely travel there and see it. I splurged and got really nice tickets for November 2021 (for our wedding anniversary), and we booked our flights and hoped things would work out. Thankfully, for the most part it did!

The UK had famously dropped most Covid restrictions by the end of 2021, and Omicron hadn’t yet hit. We still had to show our vaccination passes, and there was a requirement that visitors had to take a Covid test within 2 days of arriving. We pre-booked our tests for pickup at the airport and managed to collect them in Heathrow without too much trouble. We caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington and then walked to our hotel, the Park Grand Lancaster Gate.

We deliberately chose the hotel because it was so close to where we had both first lived in London. In fact, it was just up the street from where I had lived as a student (and later RA) for the Notre Dame London Program. The old digs had been done up a bit posher than I remembered.

This was an incredibly special place to visit – The Leinster Arms. This was my local pub as a student, and it’s where I had my first ever pint in London. I spent so many hours (and quid!) there with my friends when I was a student. I used to have dreams where I was back in this pub. We went straight there, and I was shocked to see how upmarket it is these days. (The London in my mind is perpetually 1999.) It was clean and refurbished, and full of nice-looking couples (rather than feral uni students). My beloved dartboard was gone (as was the dodgy jukebox – which had been affixed to the wall right behind where I’m standing here), but on the upside, the taps were full of local craft brews.

The bartender kindly let us know that a table had opened up in the front room, so we finished our beers there. We were about six feet from the spot where we had one of our first dates, nearly 22 years before! Most of the patrons were watching a rugby game on TV – Australia vs. England. “Do you think I’ll get beat up if I cheer for Australia?” the Snook asked. “Best not risk it.”

We walked over to Queensway to check out the neighbourhood, and I was sad to see that the Gooch (another pub) had closed since we last visited in 2016. The Snook was reminiscing about his first address in London, a dodgy backpackers nearby that he had stayed in with his mate Steve. Queensway wasn’t quite as feral as we remembered, and many of the tourist shops seemed to be gone. Whiteleys (the shopping center) is undergoing some massive refurbishment. Queensway Tube Station felt the same as always though, with that weird elevator entrance, but it was nice to be able to swipe in/out with my iPhone. We caught the Central line to Tottenham Court Road as we had a very special person to meet…

Alex! He looks exactly the same, though the salt-and-pepper hair is all white these days. We both met Alex at the same time when was assigned to the “madaboutwine.co.uk” team with us back in 1999, and he eventually ended up rooming with Rodd in Harlesden before the three of us got a share house in Hammersmith. Now he’s married with a wife and kids out in the suburbs, but he kindly came in to town for a bit of a pub crawl with us…

We spent a few hours together getting reacquainted with Soho, Covent Garden, and Seven Dials. It all felt very Christmassy and festive. The number of people out and about was truly shocking through. Not just in a “don’t they know there’s a pandemic happening?” kind of way, but in a “this is way more people than I ever remember seeing here on a random Friday night before” way. And what’s with the “pedi-cabs” in London these days? There were heaps of bicycle taxis decked out with lights blaring doof-doof music at every turn.

We ended the night as one usually does, having a late night feed in Chinatown. The food and the company were excellent.

We parted from Alex at Picadilly Circus at midnight. It was so lovely to see him. ❤️

We walked back up Regent Street, peeking in the shop windows. Hamleys had a lovely Harry Potter themed display set up! We finally caught a taxi back to our hotel before retiring for the night.

We were both feeling a bit seedy the next day after such a big night, so there was only one thing for it – a full English breakfast. We found Sheila’s Cafe nearby that more than did the trick. Once fortified, we headed back towards Covent Garden for our next rendezvous…

Steve! This is the Aussie who dragged Rodd to London in the first place, who crashed with him in the dodgy backpackers and then in the bedsit in Harlesden, and who we once memorably visited while he was bartending at a remote hotel on Loch Lomond. Steve and his wife Kate have been living with their kids in England for many years now, so it was a real treat to get to catch up with him. ❤️ And then a few hours later it was time for…

Ben! Aka Wee Ben, aka the Ferret. Ben is actually the reason I have this silly domain name in the first place, as he first dubbed me the “web goddess” (in a thick Glaswegian accent) way back in 2000. He looks exactly the same. We tramped around the city with him and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. He and Rodd reminisced about visiting dodgy computer markets together. It was nice. ❤️

Honestly, I love the Tube. It’s always filthy and you wonder how this Victorian marvel keeps hanging in there, but I love it.

The next morning we headed out for a walk through Hyde Park. I was looking for a very particular bench dedicated to Rudolf Steiner near the Serpentine. It was a spot that I had loved visiting as a student, and Rodd and I once had a picnic on the grass nearby not long after we started dating. (We found the bench. He’s still just as cute.)

“The Arch” by Henry Moore. We both remembered seeing the large version in Columbus, Indiana when we visited in 2019, but neither of us remembered this one in London. (Turns out it’s because it was taken down in 1996 and only put back up in 2012.)

As we neared the Serpentine Bridge, we heard the sound of hooves. It was a long mounted horse guard trooping past! No idea why, but it was fun to watch.

We exited the park near the Royal Albert Hall, stopping to check out the Albert Memorial. After the West End crowds on the weekend, the park felt strangely empty of tourists.

We headed to the nearest Tube Station and headed towards the City of London, where we split up for a few hours.

I had a boozy lunch with my AWS colleagues Iliyana and Isabel…

…and then swung past St. Paul’s on my way towards the river.

I crossed the Thames at the Millennium Bridge. (It’s nice that they repaired it after the Death Eaters destroyed it!)

Looking east, I could see all the way to Tower Bridge, with the massive Shard dominating the skyline.

My destination was just on the other side of the river though – the Tate Modern.

And there, waiting on the Thames foreshore, was a very smartly dressed Mr. Snook…

…who had been off having some manscaping done at a posh Bankside barber. Look at that beard shaping! 😍

Time to go see some art.

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The fourteenth (semi-)annual Web-Goddess Oscar Contest has officially launched! 🎉 And this year you can win your very own set of Spider-Monkeys so you can act out scenes from No Way Home (or the meme!)

Each is crafted from a pair of Spider-Man socks, with felt eyes appliquéd. See? They’re very similar, but all slightly different. You can call them Peter 1, Peter 2, and Peter 3 if you like. (They’re a bit simpler than my original idea, but it turns out that the only person that wants a dirty, sexually repressed, toxically masculine Benedict Cumbermonkey is me.)

Entries are now closed!

The 2022 Academy Awards happen on Sunday, March 27th (California time), which is like 2am here. So I’ll cut off entries a few hours beforehand when I go to bed, and you’ll have to wait until I get up in the morning to find out who won!

Web-Goddess Oscar Contest Sock Monkey History

Nineteen years ago, I thought it would be fun to run a contest and give away a sock monkey. I then kept that up for 10 years running, and you can see the history of my creations below. These days I only do it when the inspiration strikes…

2022 – Spider-Monkeys
2021 – Schitt’s Creek Sock Monkeys
2019 – Freddie Monkcury
2013 – The Avenger Monkeys
2012 – The Monkey with the Dragon Tattoo
2011 – Black Swan and White Swan ballerina monkeys
2010 – Sparkly Emo Vampire Sockmonkey playset
2009 – Batman and Joker monkeys
2008 – Striking Writer Monkey
2007 – Trio of Dream Monkeys
2006 – Gay Sock Monkey Cowboys
2005 – Soctopus
2004 – Plain sock monkey
2003 – Oscar the Sock Monkey

At some point during our first six months in Munich, the Snook casually mentioned that we should go ride on Falkor. I was like, “Wait, what?!” He’d somehow learned about the existence of Bavaria Filmstadt, the local movie studio facility, and that it had a tour where you could literally sit on Falkor the luckdragon from The Neverending Story. I was all in on that idea.

Bavaria Filmstadt has been around under various names for over 100 years. Alfred Hitchcock made his first film there, and the many notable productions filmed in part there include The Great Escape, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Downfall, and Das Boot. And of course, relevant to my own personal interests – a little 1971 movie called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory…

The film studios are south of the Munich city center along the Isar, and not that far from where we live. We picked a nice autumn day and had a nice slow 45min pootle along the river on our bicycles.

Here’s the entrance to the studios. We had pre-booked tickets for the 90min tour. The website mentioned English tours once a day, but we discovered when we got there that they weren’t happening anymore because demand had dropped during Covid. Thankfully they had an app that provided some English commentary so we wouldn’t be completely lost.

The entranceway has some fun exhibits set up, like this scale model of the U-96 from Das Boot. There were also a couple food trucks, so we grabbed a quick lunch before the tour kicked off. Then we were ushered onto a little train which drove us around past some of the studios and offices. Our first stop was a “4D Motion Ride” called Mogli’s Dschungel Abenteur. It’s one of those things where you’re watching a very disorienting 3D movie while the seating moves up and down and water occasionally sprays in your face. It was… not my favourite part of the day.

Then the actual studio tour began. Our group weaved our way through different film sets and props from the movies over the years. I got the impression that the layout depends greatly on what’s been filming there recently. This was part of the backdrop for the upcoming filmed version of The Magic Flute that had filmed six months earlier.

From there we shuffled straight into the White House! This hallway had apparently featured in the upcoming Kung Fury 2 featuring none other than…

President Schwarzenegger himself. 😂

They had a large exhibit of set pieces from the Jim Button German films, including Emma the Locomotive. I haven’t read these books but they’re by Michael Ende, author of The Neverending Story. 

I believe this was Nepomuk the Dragon.

We were were shuffling between rooms when I glanced upwards and stopped dead in my tracks. The Southern Oracle!

At one point we shuffled down a hallway with lots of photos from past productions. At the end of it was a small exhibit of items from The Neverending Story, including a mural of the Auryn.

Morla, the Ancient One! Just looking at that face, I could hear that wheezing voice in my mind.

The Rockbiter! I like that they included a joyous representation of him, rather than the sad “They look like big, strong hands, don’t they?” version that makes me want to cry.

I didn’t spot any props from Willy Wonka but I did see it represented in a photo on the wall.

They had a major exhibit from Das Boot, including this scale (I think?) model of the turret from the submarine.

Another scale model of the sub. They had exhibits outside showing how the crew filmed shots from the movie as well as the 2018 TV series. We then joined the queue shuffling into the long building behind…

…which turned out to be the actual set of the submarine!

It was a pretty tight fit!

Would it surprise you to learn that he was actually quoting lines from The Hunt for Red October the whole time? “One ping only, please,” I heard him growl. ❤️

Note: the sub is pretty small, and there are places where you have to climb through low bulkhead doors like behind the Snook here!

Another studio had sets from the recent sci-fi film Stowaway.

The Snook was very excited by this exhibit of sets from Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar. We walked through the mock Gaulish village…

…and found Obelix’s quarry where he works on the menhirs (standing stones)!

They also had the set used for Caesar’s dungeon…

…including a pool filled with (thankfully fake) crocodiles!

Another outdoor set was a Viking village from the Vicky the Viking film.

The tour also had a couple interactive areas where I didn’t take photos. One was the classroom set from the German film trilogy Fack ju Göhe (which translate to, I kid you not, “F**k you Goethe” in English!). There a couple volunteers sat at desks and recited lines which were then edited into a scene from the movie. Another was about special effects and had a few of us (including me and the Snook) in a mock train carriage while a guy scrolled scenery out the window. (Apparently you could download these clips when you left, but we didn’t bother.)

The gift shop also had some fun Neverending Story merch, including a box full of Auryns and some very cute little Falkors!

Our final stop was to visit the luckdragon himself. They had him set up in a small building near the entrance to the studios, and to my shock not many of the tourists there that day seemed very excited to visit him.

A couple stuck their heads in as we were geeking out and taking photos of each other riding Falkor. The guy nicely offered to take one of the two of us, then grudgingly admitted he’d never seen the movie! 😱

Look at that face! Can’t you just hear his voice? I felt like a kid again.

I forgot to mention – we were there a couple days before Halloween and they were prepping for a special event. The whole tour was being made over with a haunted house theme for a “Spookytour,” and we saw lots of creepy props and zombie cast members getting ready. The Snook didn’t want to particularly do that, but I couldn’t resist saying “Spookytour” over and over. And wow, special Halloween Dunkin’ Donuts!

And then we headed home, enjoying a very autumnal ride through the Bavarian forest.

We crossed a high rail bridge and you can see that the trees were really changing colour.

And a final view of the Isar before we got home…

On our way back from Barcelona last October, I pulled out my phone and idly checked the Hohenschangau ticket office, as I had many times over the past few months. To my delight, they actually had some tickets available for the next weekend! On a whim I bought a pair and we quickly arranged a weekend away in Füssen, the nearest town to the famous castle of Neuschwanstein.

Füssen is southwest of Munich, less than three hours on the train. (It’s right next to the Austrian border, the next valley over from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.) The weather that weekend was gorgeous, and it was thrilling to see the mountains rising up in the distance. And… is that a little castle I spy?? 🏰

We stayed in the Hotel Schlosskrone, just a short walk from the train station. The view from our hotel was pretty glorious.

We headed out into the town for a wander and to find some dinner. Füssen was founded in Roman times and it’s retained quite a medieval feel.

It’s pretty touristy too, being the closest place to Ludwig’s castles. Phew, €500+ for a cuckoo clock?!

We also got a glimpse of the Hohes Schloss (“High Castle”) up on the hill, the former summer residence of the prince-bishops of Augsburg.

The next day we headed back out to check it out in the sunshine…

Gosh it was beautiful there.

We were heading towards the river, where we knew there were was a waterfall. Along the way we ducked in the courtyard of St. Mang’s, a former Benedictine monastery. Now it contains the Museum of Füssen.

I loved how decorated the buildings were in town. This was the Church of the Holy Spirit.

The river in Füssen is called the Lech, and it flows from a lake in the Alps all the way to the Danube. Here’s the Snook on the Lechbrücke (“Lech Bridge”).

We had another view of St. Mang’s from the river.

We crossed the river and hiked a short distance to the west, where we reached our destination – the Lechfall.

The water pours down a series of steps at a narrow bend in the river with high cliffs on either side. Up on the cliff there is a small memorial to King Maximilian II of Bavaria. There’s also a small footbridge across the river that we headed down to get a better view.

I recorded a little video too.

Behind us, looking back east towards town…

The water in the river was incredibly clear.

We crossed the river in search of the Via Claudia Augusta, the ancient Roman road created by Drusus and his Emperor son Claudius. Now parts of it are a popular hiking path marked with replicas of the Roman milestones.

We followed it north towards the Tal der Sinne (“Valley of the Senses”).

Along the way we passed lots of charming houses, both modern and traditional.

We made it to The Valley and found an old ski jump! That was pretty cool.

And the Snook got to impersonate a sundial.

We hiked back into town in search of sustenance. We passed a lot of hotels and guest houses, but tourist numbers were still pretty low due to Covid.

I thought this building covered in birdhouses was really cute.

Back in town, we did some shopping. I lobbied hard, but no, he regrettably did not buy the hat.

We found a sunny spot for lunch and beers…

The Snook may not have bought a hat, but I did! I got it at the Hutladen.

The next day, it was time to head to the castles! 🏰

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I can’t believe I’m still documenting last year’s travels! We have been incredibly fortunate to get to travel, even during the pandemic. In October, I had a work event in Barcelona and so the Snook decided to accompany me. We headed there a few days early so we had time to play tourist.

Neither of us had ever been to Barcelona before. Actually, other than a short work trip the Snook made to Madrid 20 years ago, neither of us had ever really been to Spain! We caught a Saturday afternoon flight from Munich and were there within a couple hours. We checked into our hotel and then went out in search of dinner. It was a lovely night.

It was nice to see palm trees again! We had made a 9pm restaurant booking off a recommendation from my boss Enrique, and we had plenty of time to walk through the city and explore. Our route took us past the gates of the famous Citadel Park.

Our dinner booking was at Passadis del Pep. We honestly had no idea what to expect. Our first challenge was just finding the place – there’s no sign, and you enter through an unobtrusive hallway. We noticed right away that our 9pm reservation – which felt quite late for us – was actually the first sitting of the night, as the place was still pretty empty!

Our waiter was an older guy who thankfully spoke a little English. “We have no menu,” he said. “We cook whatever is fresh and in season. Are you happy to be surprised?” We said we were. The starter was the classic “pa amb tomàquet” (bread with tomato) with some olives and chips.

I knew we were going to be in for a lot of seafood! Next course was a tuna tartare doused in olive oil with some crisp toasts.

The food just kept coming. Next was a pot of all different clams and pippis. This was my first time ever having razor clams! The Snook was in heaven, and we eagerly sopped up the pot liquor with bread.

See? Told you he was happy.

Next we had grilled Padrón peppers with sea salt, and a plate of lightly battered and fried baby shrimps. I was dubious of the Snook’s advice to just eat them, legs and all, but they were so tiny they had crisped up like French fries!

Little grilled squids! Just the right amount of char…

Next up was a local specialty of wild mushrooms with a very rich sauce. (Definitely butter, maybe even some egg yolks?) I liked this, but the Snook wasn’t as much of a fan.

At this point I noticed there was giant Jamón on a special stand behind the Snook. *drool*

These were like a langoustine, I think? With some sweet caramelised onions on top.

Yet more prawns! At this point we were getting pretty full, and there was no sign of the parade of dishes coming to an end. I flagged down our charming waiter to ask him how much more there was to come. “Steak or fish?” he replied. “Steak,” I sighed.

Our final “main” course was a beautifully rare steak along with garlic and rosemary fries. It was delicious, definitely the best steak we’d had since leaving Australia. We were so stuffed though!

But we were feeling great. We drank an entire bottle of a local Catalan wine. That probably helped.

Dessert was thankfully very light – just a couple scoops of lemon sorbet, and then our choice of a couple digestivs. I went for the cream liqueur, while the Snook went for the “Bruja” (which he said reminded him of grappa). What a great start to our Barcelona mini-break!

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In September, we went on a very special trip to Italy.

As always with these travel posts, I have to put them in context. This one goes way back! Five years ago, I went to a special foodie symposium at the Sydney Opera House hosted by acclaimed Danish chef René Redzepi (from Noma). He was joined onstage by many other chefs, including David Chang (from Momofuku) and Massimo Bottura (from Osteria Francescana). The event was all about the future of food, how we eat as a society, how food and culture intersect and impact the environment, and the responsibility of chefs to educate. Not only are these guys all really smart, they’re literally the best in the world at what they do. When you get a chance to eat at one of their restaurants, you take it.

Fast forward to September 2020, not long after we arrived in Germany. I started thinking about which bucket list restaurants we could visit in Europe, and I discovered that Osteria Francescana takes bookings six months in advance. It’s been rated the best restaurant in the world twice and currently has three Michelin stars. (Also, if you watched Master of None on Netflix, it was featured – along with Massimo himself – in Season 2.) Covid was still making everything uncertain, but we figured it was worth taking a gamble. The restaurant is very small (it only has 12 tables!!), but we managed to get a reservation for the following April. Unfortunately, we went into lockdown over winter and things were still very uncertain in March. The restaurant was open but we weren’t sure if we’d be able to get in/out of Italy without having to quarantine. Reluctantly, we cancelled the reservation and decided to try again. Thankfully we were able to get another booking for the following September, a full year after the initial idea. And happily, this time we were vaccinated and able to go.

As usual, we decided to train it. We caught the EuroCity train from Munich to Bologna, travelling south across Austria through the Tyrolean Alps to Italy. The trip takes about 7 hours and features truly stunning scenery. We were lucky that that weather was perfect and we had great views of soaring bridges, charming villages, and hilltop fortresses. (Note: we wore masks the whole time and I only had him take it off briefly for the photo!)

As we passed through Verona, a cheeky Capulet bit his thumb at me! 😂

At Bologna we had to change trains for the short ride to Modena, our destination for the weekend. Modena is known for UNESCO World Heritage sites, balsamic vinegar, Enzo Ferrari, Luciano Pavarotti, and of course, a very special restaurant. We hauled our bags over to our hotel and the headed out into the city to explore.

We got to Piazza Roma just as the sun was setting. The Ducal Palace runs down one side and has fountains out in front.

I’d found a promising place for dinner so we went for a wander through the cobbled streets of the historic center.

We headed to Sosta Emiliana, where we grabbed a small table outside. The restaurant specialised in local delicacies from Emilia-Romagna like tigella (Modenese flatbreads), meats and cheeses, and sparkling Lambrusco. We went with platters that meant we got to taste a bit of everything!

On our way back to the hotel we passed the Duomo di Modena (Modena Cathedral), a UNESCO World Heritage site. It looked very dramatic lit up against the night sky.

“Have we had too much Lambrusco or… is it leaning a bit?” we wondered. Definitely some funky angles going on there.

The next day the morning dawned hot and sunny. We had time to fill before our reservation, so we headed into the Parco Giardino Ducale Estense, the park that was formerly the gardens of the Ducal Palace. (As you can see, we dressed up a bit for our fancy lunch.)

The old part of Modena is shaped almost like a pentagon so we went for a long stroll around it. This beautiful building on the Viale delle Rimembranze is actually a bank!

The Snook scoped out the local real estate prices.

We also went back to the Cathedral and ventured inside. (It’s where Pavarotti’s funeral was held!) It’s over 800 years old and features lots of different styles of carvings and embellishments. The stone lions next to the entrance date to the Roman times and were thought to have been found while digging the foundations. The Cathedral also features the burial site of St. Geminianus, the patron saint of Modena.

We’d worked up quite an appetite by this point, so it was time to go to lunch! The restaurant entrance is quite unassuming with only a tiny sign, and we probably would’ve walked right past if not for the small group of people waiting nearby. We spent the time taking photographs with some of the other guests and gawking at the Maseratis and Ferraris parked down the street.

And then we were ushered inside!

Rather than a single big space, the restaurant had a few different rooms and we were in one with only four tables.  The walls were decorated with fine art and I felt a little daunted to be sitting there in a dress I’d sewn myself!

Buckle up, because you’re about to get a LOT of food photos…

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